The administration of therapeutic fluids to a patient is well known in the art. Many types of medical delivery devices exist to deliver various therapeutic fluids to a patient, such as, for example, parenteral fluids, drugs or other medicaments, electrolytes, blood and blood products, and the like. One particular type of medical delivery device is an infusion pump, which can deliver one or more of these therapeutic fluids to a patient via a variety of administration types, such as, for example, intravenous (IV), intra-arterial (IA), subcutaneous, epidural, irrigation of fluid spaces applications, and the like. Many infusion pumps that operate under these types of administration typically utilize an administration line set and an associated container containing one or more therapeutic fluids. The line set is typically loaded into a delivery mechanism of the pump, which facilitates delivery of the fluid to the patient.
Each type of administration and each type of therapeutic fluid typically involve numerous operational parameters, variables, constraints and other related information, such as medical and pharmaceutical related information, that must be monitored and followed to ensure proper, effective and safe delivery of therapeutic fluids to the patient and effective treatment of the patient. To ensure proper monitoring and treatment, most medical delivery pumps incorporate an alarm system to indicate to a caregiver or patient that an event has occurred, such as one or more operational parameters being out of a predetermined range. These alarms are typically visual or audible alarms, such as a beeping alarm.
In addition to medical delivery devices, most medical equipment that is utilized in direct patient care typically have alarm systems to notify the caregiver of situations that require attention. While the intent of these alarms is to notify the caregiver of such situations and allow them to be addressed, the shear number of alarm systems of equipment that may be associated with treatment of a particular patient, and the frequency of such alarms being triggered and high levels of patient acuity, have ultimately minimized the sense of urgency in responding to such alarms. This can result in a potentially dangerous situation, particularly in the case of medical pumps utilized to properly and safely deliver fluids, such as drugs, to a patient.
To address this concern, there is a need to distinguish between alarms, and in the case of medical pumps, there is a need to distinguish between alarms associated with the same or separate events that occur in connection with the same or separate devices.
The present invention addresses these and other concerns and generally provides a new and improved alarm system for a medical pump for delivery of medicaments to a patient.